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In Revolutionary Assassin School - The Coup de état (Part I)
Chapter 1: Gifts and pre-September Chapter 2: The first challenge - Life in North Blue In the fourth year, thing started to go wrong. I was unknowingly forced to participate a very dangerous competition between the four seas: N, E, W, S. The post-dinner meeting The day when I remembered most is the meeting between all the students and teachers in the school, at seven, on the Saturday evening. After dinner, no one was permitted to go out, except for the ones who went to the bathrooms. At that time, the custodians moved all the plates, bowls, and cups away, leaving only the empty tables. I and my sister sat together, in a large, long table for the fourth-year students only. Fifteen minutes later, Mr. Blanc - Lucy's grandfather, standing on the upper platform with some documents on his hand. The similar voices came out: "All right.", he continued after drinking a little water from a big glass. "Maybe some of you asked yourselves why you have to stay here. The reason is very simple.", he opened the document. "We had just received the list of the students in our school - included the former ones - who will participate in the N. E. W. S Grand Competition." Everyone, except the teachers, was discussing in noisiness in the Hall. My eyes was pointing hopelessly to the old headmaster. "One more thing - each student who has his or her name called, go to the door behind Mr. Prescott over there, to receive information about the first competition." Half of the lights in the hall were turned off. Everyone calmed down and paid their attention to the headmaster. "The first one is the former student, now worked as a chef in his house. He also returned here to register this competition... Steppens D. Bill!" My oldest brother stood up. Everyone looked at him and clapped their hands for a moderately long moment, then stopped after he sat down. Our twin was the last one who stopped clapping. Following the order given, he walk to the door behind the professors' seats. "The second one is a seventh-year student, from the class VII-3, and the only female competitor in our school... Alex Graham Blanc!" The older girl from the fourth table, from left to right, in the second section behind us, stood up. I realized that Lucy told me she had had an older sister, but I haven't seen her face before. Everyone looked at her and clapped their hands until she sat down. "The third one is also the former student, now worked as an assassin and engineer in a city in North Blue. He also met his friend to register this competition... Ezio Gregorio!" Alan's brother stood up. If I did remember clearly, Alan told me he had an older brother, similar to Lucy. Everyone did what they'd done when the previous two stood up, and also stopped when he sat down. He also walked to the door behind the professors' seats, between the quiet air in the hall. "And the last one. This person is noticed to be able to use Haki of Conqueror since he was born, and he successfully survived from the World Government officers twice in his life. He is also the youngest competitor, only fourteen years old. Even though he didn't register, his name is still in this list..." Everyone whispered in noisiness again. "You think who he was?" "I don't think it's really him!" I began to breath faster and faster. My heart beat rapidly. My eyes opened half-widely to Mr. Blanc. "... From class IV-1 - STEPPENS D. STORM!" I stood up and glanced slightly at our headmaster. I, and everyone in the Hall, included sister, couldn't avoid being surprised upon hearing my name being called out loud like that. Some students guessed correctly, but couldn't believe on themselves. All of them, put their eyes onto me, who successfully survived the W.G. twice, and was able to use Haki of Conqueror - no one in this school could use it. Whispering became louder and quieter, like a legion of angry hornets and bees. "Go, Mr. Steppens. Go.", Mr. Blanc said quietly. I stood up and walked between the noises all around. I could even hear clearly some voices from the second and third year students. "How could it be like that? He is too young!" "What if he has himself registered by someone else?" "Should we report this to Master?" "It's impossible. Once he has been in that list, he had to face it..." Those sounds got muted after I entered the room - achievement room - and closed the door behind me. "Hey. What do ya think ya'r doing here? Are you here to transport the news?" A voice sounded rudely. It's Alan's older brother. "Right! How's outside? Can you tell me what Mr. Blanc gonna give us?" Lucy's eldest sister seems to agree with Ezio and asked me rapidly. Bill just stood there, can't say such a thing. He didn't even explain anything to those two. He just believed I came here to announce the news. Suddenly, the door behind me opened. Some people entered, including Mr. Blanc, Professor Kreacher, Professor Prescott, Mrs Penelope McFlumeriz, Mr. Ursouge, Gildemao Barto-shape and Granmizo Sanchez. Mr. Ursouge coouldn't endure his surprise and comdemnation, angrily approached me with his dagger. "MR STEPPENS! DID YOU WRITE YOUR NAME INTO THAT DAMN LIST???" He pulled me to the wall and pointed the dagger at me. "No, no, I'm... I'm not." I splattered rapidly. Everything occured too suddenly that Bill and Ezio couldn't stopped him. "Be patient, Mr. Ursouge. Put the dagger aside.", Mr. Blanc put his scragged hand on Ursouge's shoulder, pulled him aside. He turned to me, asked silently. "Storm, did you put your name into the list?" "N... No... I don't even know how many people in that list." "Bill.", the old master turned to his former student. "Did you put your brother's name in the list? Or anyone else?" "Neither am I. I neither know nor see anyone do so with the boy's name." As you have known before, there have been some exceptional examples. Some people outside had suggested the council to add him into the competitor list. But once he was successfully added, there would be no way to change it. This means, in conclusion, he is still in the South Blue team.", he then looked at me. "I was sorry for that, but you will no miss multiple lessons, Mr. Steppens. Now sit down and hear what is next." I did as he ordered, when a question appeared in my mind. "Why must I take part in this?", "Who put me into trouble like this?" "Now, here is the training course for the participants from fourteen to thirty. Our trainer is Mr. Reemus James Kreacher - our Assassin teacher. He will control the course from 4.30 pm to 5.15 pm in Thursday and Saturday, in room 28. The course will last until November 15th.", he continued. "So now, if no one has questions, we can end here and all of you will return to the dormitory." After ten second, we all made our way to the dorm. I went to Alan's room numbered 341, while my mind was still being annoyed by that question. I looked at the window, at the female dormitory. Rooms were beginning to be turned off, more and more until it was dark. Only one rooms remained light. That's Ellie and Lucy's room. I also went to bed and slept, after turning off the light. But an hour later, the Den Den Mushi on the table rang. I went out of bed immediately, picked up the phone. "Hello?" "It's me, Lucy. Are you sleeping?" "No. Why do you call me so late?" "Uhm... Just a few question. Do you suspect anyone outside this school?" "Yes. Any more?" "Hmm. Who else do you think who is the troublemaker?" "I don't think 'bout that. Maybe... Aaron, or someone else I had seen in an old newspaper." "All right. Your sister is writing to your adoptive father to tell everything. She said you would soon receive his reply." "Got it. Anything else?" She stopped for a little bit. Maybe she was asking my sister what to ask me next. "Do you remember what you told all the students and my grandfather?" "Yes. Perhaps it's: I'm sure the truth will be found." "Thanks. You can sleep now." I put the phone down. Alan was looking at me, curiously. "Who have you been talking to? Is it your sister?" "Oh yes. She is writing to my father." I then went to bed, as soon as the last light from the female dormitory turned off. Yusuf's letter A week had passed with some final lessons before we departed. On Wednesday morning, I took a Assassin test, with climbing and running on the rooftops on Tuesday, and got an S- score for this. At the end, I had to stay to listen to Mr. Kreacher. He was a 46-year-old fat man with dark blond hair, which is long to his shoulders. His forehead was wide, with a lot of healed scars as results of joining in bloody battles. He also had a quite large face, also with small thin scars. His right leg was cut, and replaced with a stainless steel leg. "Well, when I was sixteen years old, I was forced to participate this tournament due to the fact that my father sent the request for the council. At the end, I passed all the challenges. My family became rich, all because of me. I was offered to teach at this school for having joined in this tournament, in order to instruct the competitors, once every six years. When I heard you are the youngest one that evening, I also doubted that someone had done this..." "So, do you know what the challenge is going to be?", I asked. "You haven't read the newspaper today yet, have you?" I raised my shoulders, signed as not yet. "Let me tell you. The first challenge is the most traditional one - Hot and Cold. You've got to survive the difficult temperature - I mean, too high and too low. And fight some special monsters of each condition. For example...", he opened a small bag, revealed some action figures. He took out an orange, half-cube-shaped one. "This is a magma creeper. It moved very slowly, and spat out an amount of magma every fifteen seconds. Quite interesting, isn't it?" "Yes. And easy to be defeated, too." "I see what you are meaning. Haki and water are their weakness. And they can neither fly nor melt the metal, too. I remembered, when the creeper crawled to me, I just simply kick them to fall into the magma pool, using a left titan boot. But, a piece of its skin pierced into my right leg, so I had to cut that leg and replaced with a steel leg. This means, don't be subjective so soon.", he returned it to the bag. "... and not to ignite the fire in the cold challenge." "Cold challenge?", I asked him. He took out another small action figure. It was a white fat hairy monster, with little transparent eye. "This is Yeti - called as Lord of Heights. It's very fat, approximately six hundred pounds, and it uses its weight to squash players." "You think it's easy to be defeated?" "Oh yes. If you own one of these: strength, or intelligence. I think you owned all of them, which can make sense for this trouble.", he took out a laser flashlight. "This is my method. I used this to defeat him." "You mean, its weakness?" "Yes. Use anything that can be lit, to stun him. Keys of opportunities are all types of lights. Understand?" "Of course." "You can go now. Anyway, to the Hall for lunch. It's eleven twenty now. I will be there later. Remember to tell the others." "Thanks!" I quickly made my way to the Grand Hall, where almost everyone is waiting for lunch. I chose a seat next to my sister and Bill. "Where have you been all the time?" "Uhm. Mr. Kreacher kept me. He told me about the first challenge." "What's that?", Bill asked, "You got what's next?" "Hmm. The first one will be "Hot and Cold". Participants have to survive very high and very low temperature. In each condition, we'll have to fight the specified creatures." "Any more?" "He said... Magma creepers and Yeti... or more, I don't remember them all. Totally, we have to fight them. Got it?" "I see. I'll tell the others for you." We left the hall and took a rest at our large common room - where we used to rest, play games and have drinks together, or to discuss about our mutual problems - at half past twelve. My pocket watch followed me everywhere, and that's why I often tell you the time through the whole story. While we were resting, a bunch of white feathers was seen flying toward the window. "Look! A seagull! How can it reach here?" "What? A seagull?" I thought. It originally flew on the sea. This is a strange one. Before I can wonder why it came here, a student shouted: "No, could it be... an eagle!?" "An eagle?" I wondered. It came closer and closer, and when the front window pane was open, the bird slowed down itself, and landed on my shoulder. His leg was carrying a small pipe. All of people put their eyes to me. I slightly opened the pipe, and took a paper scroll out. "What? What's that letter?", some friends, who asked curiously. "Don't ask that! What if it's a relative's letter to him?", some more, included the leader of our entire grade, who were less curious. "Don't gather here. This is secret. The sender said this wasn't allowed to be read by the others." "All right. Dismiss, guys!", the leader said. The eagle flew away through the window pane. I brought the letter to my room, placed it into the lowest drawer of my desk. I locked the door carefully and left the men's dormitory, for the fifth period at half past one. We - I and my sister - went till after dinner. It was seven thirty. When we arrived at the common room, no one was there, and there were transparent footsteps on the stairs. They directed us upstairs, likely that guy began to run as the distance between the each two ones became longer and longer. There were also more footsteps, but they are bigger than those on the first floor. Turning to left, a flower vase had fallen to the ground. "A thief?", I thought. From rooms to rooms, hallways to hallways, stairs to stairs, we finally reached room 1013. It was said that it had been an empty room for years, since it was too difficult to stay in, because those rooms, from room 1001 to 1080, were situated on the highest floor. Now, those were the laundry and warehouses. The handle was broken and on the floor. Some small drops of blood on the floor, under the door. Ellie held my left arm. "Could it be...?", she whispered. "Shhh! Someone is inside!", I replied silently. I pulled the door aside. A fat man, likely Mr. Kreacher, was lying and breathing heavily on the floor. He then turned out to be Mr. Kreacher - our Assassin teacher. His left hand was holding a knife, which stabbed on a person, likely a young woman, whom her face was made unseen. Her clothes were torn partly, showed tattoos, skins, and even pieces of her underwears. She had a steel leg and a half-steeled arm. His right hand is covering his wound on his stomach. "Professor!", I approached fast to him. "She infiltrated us! She is trying to kill me!", he grinned and glanced at her, while breathing heavily. "Give me my cane over there. I can stand up.", he pointed at the cane next to the fallen boxes, on the floor. Ellie picked up and gave him. He took out a water bottle and drank it, then stood up. "I should better bury this body. Leave this for me. Don't tell anyone else." We returned to our rooms as nobody knew what happened to the male dormitory, on the highest floor. We sat on the bed together. We were too tired, of chasing after the footsteps. But then, I remembered the letter from Yusuf, I reached the desk and took out the letter from the lowest drawer. "What's that, bro? A letter?" "Yes. I received this just this noon. You want to see it, too?" "Of course." We opened the letter. Raflac House I Dear Ellie and Storm, I saw that you were involved in this dangerous competition. I knew what to do, but failed to delete your name from that list. Anyway, I can guess who is behind all this, but I'm not sure to tell you or not. This one, is the strongest enemy, and he would find the way to kill you once and for ever. When I talked to Lucy's grandfather via the Den Den Mushi, we all agreed that you have got to survive all the given challenges, in order to reveal who he, or she, is. Now, make sure you guys don't go and investigate it yourselves. You are not strong enough to defeat him. One more thing - El, Mr. Blanc allowed you and Lucy to go and assist you in everywhere you go, except for the third task, where no one but the participants can go. Your father, Yusuf. '' I swallowed and put the letter aside. "Am I gonna follow to take care of you?", Ellie breathed heavily. "He said so.", I swiped my hand through her long brown hair. "But... everything will be okay." "I don't want to miss my lessons. I will have to self-study now, and so do you and Lucy." "I know, sister. If you want, you can rest in my room." "Thanks.", she put off her shoes and laid on my bed. She also undressed her leather jacket and jeans and put it aside, revealed her nightclothes - a black panties and a white T-shirt. She then let her leg rest across my lap and embraced me half-tightly. Anyway, she is my sister, and we were just fourteen then, so it didn't matter if I let my elder sister sleep on my bed like that. We soon fell asleep. The next day, I got up very early. My sister was still sleeping, and holding my hand. I didn't know why I woke up so early like that day. Alan was also so on the bed above us. I looked at the pocket watch. It's half past five. Too early, but I couldn't return to sleep. She also opened her eyes, looked at my back. "My dear... you woke up?", she sat up, and put her back onto mine, wrapped the blanket around herself, and still not released my hand yet. "Your bed is so soft... I love sleeping in your bed now." "Thanks. If you don't want to sleep anymore, dress yourself up." She grabbed the jeans and put it up, then the leather jacket. She looked at the window, to the opposite one. Chapter 3: The course It was 3.30 pm - end of the third period of the afternoon. I immediately made our way to the room 28. The students were so crowd, although there were nothing bad happen in the school. And very noisy, too. I quickly got through them, but a minute later I escaped from them. Room 28 was our Assassin Room, and this was controlled by Professor Kreacher. He taught, worked, and slept in that room. He did almost everything in his office behind the blackboard, except for having meal - he had meals in the Grand Hall. Next to the room is a small room, in which his tools were kept in. Upon arriving at the place, a large back was seen animating in front of the door. "Professor?" "Ah, there you are. Coming so early?", it turned to be Mr. Kreacher. "Uhm... yes. I haven't returned to the dorm to take out the books yet." "You know, this course requires neither books nor notebooks. Just practice dealing with the creatures.", his arms were still looking for something inside. "THUMP", some carton boxes collapsed. The Professor pulled out a large block, painted with hot colors, simulated like a magma creeper. "Whew... First, we should arrange all the desks to create an area, wide enough to practice this." "Yes, sir.", I entered the classroom and began moving desks. I moved some to the left, and some more to the right. While I was doing the current job, he shouted out loud: "Hey, don't forget to leave the benches for you guys!" "OK!", I replied. Ten minutes later, the desks were all arranged to the walls and corners. Two benches was put in front of the desks to the right of the board. Looked very wide and clean. Later, Professor pulled the cart, which was full of blocks. "Oh, that was great." At the same time, Alex arrived. Chapter 4: The event As I remembered, there were totally 6738 participants, and the reward is extremely enormous: six hundred millions berries. The first challenge was revealed to be "Hot and Cold", as right as Mr. Kreacher has predicted before. All the participants had to survive the temperature from sixty to eighty degrees Celsius, in a large cage hung on the crater. and people who survived the highest temperature would have to defeat fifty magma creepers - a kind of hot-blooded creature that spits magma every fifteen seconds. Next, the participants were moved to the high mountains, where the temperature is minus fifty degrees Celsius. The ones who survived without igniting the fire would have to defeat a Yeti and twenty Lapins from the Drum Island. Beginning of the first challenge The sky had just turned orange as I woke up and looked at the window of the school. It's four o'clock. How to pass In the first challenge, all of us survived. "Not even the challenge.", our opinions are the same. With us, fighting the magma creepers weren't the big problem at all, because they moved very slowly and we just used the explosives which triggers when the temperature reached ninety degrees. When fighting the Yeti, Bill said that the Yeti was afraid of the light, so we continuously lit the laser beams at it. That was how four of us survived the cold challenge. All the participants moved to the North Blue for the second challenge. All of us boarded on a special cruises, which looked like Marine battleship, but they had neither cannons nor windows. We went on five days. The ship we boarded was quite comfortable, included a dining room - the tables and chairs were attached onto the floor, in order not to let it fall apart when we came to the mountain; a few bedrooms with a lot of small beds, hammocks, but on that day, we had to use our sleeping bag, because there was too many, to the point that the ship nearly half-sank. A morning, when I was the one who got up first. Everyone hadn't gotten up yet. I walked to the deck, where I saw an enormous mountain, at half of five hundred kilometers far from us. Nearly been covered by the moderately thick fog, I nearly can't see anything, but a large pirate ship was coming. An observer on the top of the main mast, reported to the captain while looking through the binoculars. "A pirate ship!" I moved closer to the front deck. According to the council, we were assigned to stay in a tourism city, which is one point five kilometers high from the sea surface. Participants team from each Blue were funded eight million berries. We stayed in a special house, which was built on a tall tree. The house was made by wood and stainless steel, and fifty meters from the ground. Looking at the house, Ezio asked the rest: "Are there anyone who is having the acrophobia?" "We are ready to explore it." We climbed on a rope-made ladder and reached the entrance. Entered the building, we saw a wide area, provided with enough light from outside. There was a sofa and a table on the right of us; a fireplace in the middle of the room, which was inside a square lower area; on the ceiling, there was a large hole with a net inside, where we can look through the sky; and on the left of us, there were two bunk beds. "That was quite comfortable.", Alex said. "And we have to deal with the coldness here, together." "Don't tell me we are gonna lit the fireplace all night.", Bill said, "We don't have much firewood and coals here." "We could go outside for leaves and woods. Coal causes too much carbon oxyde.", I said. "And it could harm the air." "Let me check the chimney.", Ezio said, then climbed onto the treetop. "How interesting. There is a small device here. Hey, is there anyone interested in science?" "Me.", I said. I climbed through the chimney using my rope launcher. From the below, I saw a small white box, with the two pipes connected. "You think what is inside?", the older boy asked. "There is no hole at all." "You think so? There is one on the bottom.", I said, and flipped the box. "I see. The smoke will be sucked here. After the oxy atoms were extracted, they will be released out with those pipes." "So that was how it worked. It is still new, as if it has just been inserted here, before we arrived." We returned to the room. Alex got away for some food. In the evening, Bill and Alex cooked some sushi plates. We ate them with soy sauce. "Wow... This is the first time I ate with chopsticks! And this food, where did you learn to cook?", Ezio asked. "From our housewife at our home. The meal is simple here." The next day, we went for some leaves and firewood. The entire forest was colder than the following day. We thought it was goin' to be raining, so we decided to get them as fast as possible. I and Alex climbed trees to cut down leaves and small branches. Ezio and Bill, each one held a hatchet and a saw, cut down some dead trees remained in this forest. We also met some villagers here; they were also finding the inflammable things in the forest. Some of them were too poor that they didn't have anywhere to stay in, so I and Alex decided to let them stay in our accomodation. The other two knew this, but they didn't feel annoyed at all, 'cos we were helping the homeless ones. People who visited us, such as Ellie and Lucy, also had some presents for them, fruits, food,... We allowed them to have meals together. In the next dawn, there was someone who was knocking the door. Due to gettin' up very early, so I silently opened the door while the others were sleeping. "Who's there?", I whispered. "Do you know any poor families here?", the young lady asked me. "Yes. They are staying in our accomodation." "Can I meet them?", she said. "Okay, but can you wake them up?" "Of course." She walked silently to the old families. I couldn't see her face clearly, because it was so dark. "Hey, grandpa, it's me! Your granddaughter!" "Who's there?" "Your granddaughter!" The older man sat up, he seemed to be happy. "Oh dear, where have you been?" "I... I'm scared... They are trying to... sell my younger sister..." "WH... WHAT???", he screamed in surprise. The other ones also woke up. Bill lit the lantern. "Who's there?", Ezio took the hatchet. "Don't... don't hit me... I'm... their relative..." "Why do you come here, stranger?", Alex said to the young lady. "I'm looking for my grandfather for help..." "So, what's happening with you?", I came closer to her. "It's a long story.", she looked at us, her eyes seems to be wetter. She told us everything. Her family was assaulted by some mercenaries and her husband was wounded critically, and her younger sister was kidnapped. She was successfully escaped, but she needed helps then. If late, her sister would be sold and the auction day was two more days. "Can... Can you guys help us?" Her granddaughter and two cousins looked at us hopefully. "Shall... Shall we help them?" "Of course. We can't leave them.", Bill said with positiveness. "In addition to that, we will take part in the second challenge seven days later, so don't worry." "Thanks!", she smiled happily. Looked like her tears began to fall, and I cleaned them for her. Chapter 5: The preparation of the human auction "May we leave first?", they stood up, after the young woman gave me a kiss on my forehead "No problem." They left our room after closing the door. "So, if we want to rescue all the victims, we need plan. And if we want a plan, we have to have a surveillance first. Shall we go?" "All right. Let's go." We left after locking the door carefully, and went for a breakfast, when bringing ten thousand berries for some necessary actions. I brought my gauntlet, in case I had to kill someone. We all entered an excellent restaurant, where it could be some rich people there. Chosen an empty table, we started to do eavesdropping while we were having breakfast together. "Hey, have you heard something? There will be a human auction. Two days later." "I know. You think where will the prisoners be before the trading time?" "Uhm... perhaps in the basement. Moreover, we don't have any giants here." "Have you checked the list yet?" "Let me see... We've got forty-seven people here, but the requirement is fifty. The other guards are finding them." "Guards? They are guards?", I thought. They were holding a list of the prisoners and slaves there. "Excuse me...", a man approached them. "Who are you?" "I am a noble also from this sea, but at a far place from here. Can you show me the way to the human auction house?" "Do you hear anything? That guy is also the customer.", Ezio whispered, while pointing at a well-dressed man standing next to the guards' table. "Finish the breakfast quickly.", Bill whispered. At eight o'clock, after breakfast, we went to investigate the human auction house. Following that customer for a short time, we found out a big and high hall. There was a board written "HUMAN AUCTION HOUSE". It was painted yellow and blue. There were also twelve windows around the cone-shaped roof, one main door and two hidden entrance, and no side window after all. Multiple guards were assigned to protect the auction and the whole hall. At a position where is forty footsteps far away from it, a small stall was built there. Looked closer, it was revealed to sell the entrance tickets. People couldn't enter the hall without the ticket. Around those buildings were the hotels, guest-houses for the tourists and auctions customers. "We should buy some tickets before goin' on the surveillance.", I said. "Good idea." We divided into two group: I and Alex would stand on a rooftop of nearby house, Ezio and Bill would explore the basement through the sewer beneath the house. Standing on the rooftop of a nearby house, I could see there were well-equipped guards with spears, swords and explosives. "Are there anything unfamiliar?", Alex asked, while looking through the sniper scope. "Nothing. Maybe more prisoners are coming." A big cart was approaching the entrance of the house. A line of over forty people wearing different clothes walked on a red carpet led to the entrance. Based on the information the young woman had given us, we determined the last girl was our target. She wore a yellow sweater, white shorts, and her hand was fastened with a handcuffs. Alex drew a sketch of her rear part of her body, so the face was unseen. One of the guards was guiding the victims to go to the basement. "I hope Ezio and your brother will leave soon.", Alex said. "Bill is not a troublemaker after all.", I replied. "And... one more thing. I'd like some tickets for us to the house.", Alex pointed at a sniper standing on an opposite building. "Do you see that girl?" "Yes.", I replied. "Use your hidden blade to assassinate her, but you mustn't be seen. We will both get trouble.", she continued, and jumped below. I also jumped below, and slightly approached the opposite building, while nobody noticed me. Climbing the wall, I grabbed her leg and pulled down. She fell after dropping the rifle on the edge of the rooftop. I took the gun and began to observe. Meanwhile, Alex was talking with the ticket seller. "Could you sell me the ticket for four people, please?" "Two hundred berries. Each person costs fifty." "Here.", she gave him a note of two hundred berries. "Your number is one hundred and four, and you guys are also the last people buying ticket here. We will leave four last seats for you. Here, sign in this list, at number 104. If you want a copy of the goods, pay me twenty-five more berries.", he gave me a card written "104". On the other side, there are: ''NORTH BLUE AUCTION HOUSE Price: 25 berries First period: 9.15 am to 11.15 am Second period: 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm (Note: To ensure that you don't miss the chance to get the wanted slaves, it's compulsory for you to be present in all the periods. This must be returned to the ticket seller after the second period ended.) She signed in the list. "I would love to. Here you are.", she took out twenty five berries and gave him. "Thank you.", she said after receiving the slaves list. "You're welcome.", he said, then shouted, "Hey, you can invite more friends, just required they are thirteen or older, and they are free!" I left the rifle and reunited with the other ones. We went to the restaurant and bought fried rice for me, rice and curry for Ezio, some spaghetti for Alex and Bill, and a 3-litre bottle of chocolate milk for everyone. While we were waiting, I and Bill saw Ellie and Lucy were having some dinner. Lucy's hairstyle was the fishtail; she wore a blue sweater - her original top clothes - a faded jeans and a pair of sneakers. "Hello, the unlucky boy.", she giggled at me. "Hi, Lucy. You followed us to this city?" "Just curious. We have to self-study." "So do I.", I said, looking at Ellie. "Are you gonna leave us soon?", asked the older girl. "Yes. As soon as we paid for our takeaway dinner. Do you have enough money here?" "We've just stolen some. From the nobles. Remained undetected. Your sister did stealthy work very well.", Lucy drank some pineapple juice. "Excuse me?", said Alex. "Can you..." "What can we help you?" "Uhm... To the Human Auction House. We will rescue some people there. You are all thirteen and above, right?" "Yes, we are.", Lucy said. "I'm thirteen this year." "OK. See you tomorrow.", Alex said goodbye and left the restaurant together with me and the older boys. Arriving at our "hotel room", we covered all the windows and the chimney above with an umbrella and lit the lantern. We sat together to have a small secret meeting, while having dinner. "So, did you buy the tickets?", Ezio asked. "Yes. We are the last one, and there are over one hundred people, including four of us, attending the auction.", Alex replied, took the list from her handbag. "Here, this is the list of the prisoners and slaves." "Where is our target?", Ezio asked more. "Number fifty-five. Amy Harleson, 22, half-blooded human(1), worth six hundred and fifty thousand, but the starting price is noted as five hundred thousand." "And we are owning eight millions berries as the council's supply.", I said. "That was quite perfect.", Bill said, "We'd seen some first slaves imprisoned inside the waiting room. The only way to connect with them is via the vent. The vent connected between the hidden entrance and the waiting room. There are no more secret entrance underground, except one in the sewage, where no one can think about." "Tell us more.", Alex ordered. "Guards are on high alert every second, so we couldn't infiltrate the basement easily. We can only talk secretly through the air vent. They said they had been noticing some big nobles. They are owning a gigantic amount of money. Some of them are really greedy and violent that many slaves had died due to running away from them, disobeying them or betraying them. They also own a collection of mermaids." "So, how do they treat the mermaids?", I asked. "They are all treated badly. The nobles call them as "mud-blooded", "shit-blooded", "urine-blooded", etc. But those creatures cost very much and only the high-ranked nobles can buy them for high prices." "So, will we save them?" "Yes, but it will make such a chaos, after we act." "We should prepare some weapons if necessary." "All right!" "And we will discuss 'bout the plan tomorrow." We finished our dinner and went to bed. However, Bill and Alex stayed up to draw the map for our operation the next day. Chapter 6: The infiltration to the basement At five fifty, we got up early and got dressed. I wore a navy blue assassin trenchcoat, a gauntlet, a black pants and a pair of high-top sneakers. We rented a cart as a giveaway vehicle from the hotel owner, and made our way to the fastfood shop. The cart was quite convenient, because it had a private room enough for six people to sit inside, and it was able to cover us from rain. Arriving there, we saw my sister was waiting at the door. "Hi, brother. Lucy is paying the money inside. Too many people inside.", she greeted us. "We also buy breakfasts, but no problem.", Bill said. I and Alex got inside. There were too many people here, as Ellie had said before, although there were a few people standing on the aisle and waiting for their goods, or to pay for their meals. It was said that this shop was one of the most popular food stalls in this tourism city. Colorful decoration and suitable seats, we wished we could come here again. We saw Lucy was waiting to pay for her food. She was tall, but not as me, and had put on a new outfit, included her dark blue original sweater, a denim cutoffs, a black pantyhose and a pair of high-top sneakers. She also had a wavy hair as usual, and put a pink hypnotic sunglasses onto her forehead. "Oh, you also came here for breakfast?" "Yes, but we're full now. Perhaps your sister predicted that this would be very crowd, so we had to leave first. Unfortunately, we forgot some money at this shop." "So you returned to take it back?" "Of course.", she replied. "Uhm... Do you mind if I hold your hand? I'm afraid of being lost." "Don't worry. This is not too big after all... But if you want, just do so." And she grabbed my left hand and held it. I felt something, like an inexperienced feeling. Lucy then grab my arm with two hands. "Oh dear... You're so warm..." "Thank you...", I secretly kissed her on her forehead. She continued holding my hand when I got closer to the door. Alex also came with us with four boxes of sandwiches. All six of us sat on the cart, discussed the plan while we were having breakfasts with different sandwiches. The oldest boy opened the map. "Listen carefully. This is the Human Auction House, which is three hundred meters far from us.", he pointed at the small rectangle on the north of the building. "This small shape is the secret entrance underground. The vent connected to the waiting room in the basement.", he switched to the other side of the map, revealing the structure of the building. "This is what is inside this building, and its air supplement system, too. The way to the basement is the line drawn. So anyone wanted to infiltrate this floor?" "Me." Lucy said, "And Storm, too." "I think you fall in love with him.", Bill said silently. "Just kidding. Alex, the ticket is still in your bag, right?" "Here. Only one, but for four people.", the girl older than him replied. "And it's compulsory for us to sat there all the periods." "Great. This means we just sat there for our presence.", he said. "Our target will be auctioned in this afternoon.", he continued. "It's seven fifty-five now. And... if you'd like to, just go first. We will arrive later." "All right. Come on, Lucy. I know the way." I and Lucy climbed onto a rooftop, and I moved on there while I had to carry Lucy on my back. On the way, she asked me: "Am I heavy? Are you tired?" "I'm okay. We are running and jumping under the sunlight. Don't talk too much, because I will have a headache soon." She kept quiet during the time. A minute later, I realized it was still too far to reach the destination, so i stopped. "Get down. I have a faster idea.". I closed my eyes said silently, "I sincerely declared I am a mighty eagle.". Suddenly, a tiny pair of black wings appeared on my back, and grew larger and larger until it stopped, as large as wings of a large bird. "Great! How can you do it?!", she said in surprise. "Climb on my back!", I ordered, after I put on my swimming goggles. She grabbed my shoulders and climbed on. The wings moved stronger and stronger, made both of us fly onto the air. "Wow! That was wonderful! How can you do that?" "Just an accidental incident. I think about the quote and it appeared. When I say that again, we will fall, so I don't say it now." "Got it. That was really convenient way to travel a long distance. Why don't you tell me this?" "I'm just waiting for the chance to perform this for the second time, but I am afraid you will vomit, so I didn't tell you.", I explained. "And I see you are immune to the high places." After a minute flying, we landed on an alley, where was very near the auction house. "We are very near the enemies, so we have to find the alternative way." "Where?" I closed my eyes activated the Eagle Vision. The scenery around me was darker, and I could see a path underground, which is highlighted orange. The entrance was highlighted the same color, which was inside an alley. "We got it. Follow me." I picked up a crowbar beside, and forced the manhole to open. The hole was opened, no bad smell after all. "We have to go through this sewage to another place. Will you go first? I have to close the lid." "Yes. I wonder how the sewage underground look.", she climbed down the ladder. I also did, and pulled the lid to its normal position. I lit the flashlight after taking it out of my pocket. "Be careful, whether you can swim or not. The water was flowing roughly." While we are walking, we talk to each other. Not many subject, but one, about my ability to find the hidden objects. "How can you find the way easily like that?" "Uhm... due to the Eagle Vision." "Eagle Vision? What's that?" "It's a sixth sense, or the other way, the ability to find out something like objects we want to find, or finding clues involved to the cases... If someone says Eagle Vision was his or her sixth sense, this can be understood that that person has that ability since his or her birth. If someone says he or she was trained to use this ability, we call this as a skill." "So, can anyone learn this?" "Of course, but necessary things are your age how good your memory is. If your memory is good, you can find anything easily with this ability. Moreover, if you are fourteen or older, you will learn it very effectively. That's because people have good memories at that age." "I see. Anything else?" "In finding clues for a case, your suspicion on something is the most important one. When you suspect that there is some blood somewhere, or something strange to you, your Eagle Vision will show you the most reasonable results." "I'm fourteen next year. Maybe you can teach me. Privately." "Of course, just require your will." "Thanks.", she put her back on my chest, leaned her head to my face and kissed on my lip. "Wow... I think you love me." "No. Just a thankful gift to you.", she smiled. We continued our way until we saw another manhole. Perhaps it was the exit, I thought. I climbed the ladder and tried to open the lid and success. We found out the exit was connected to the secret entrance Bill had mentioned earlier. We got it right. "A place where no one can think about." Actually, nowhere was or remained to be secret. It was just a place, where nobody put their eyes on it, or attempted to explore it. We found it using the Eagle Vision, but it was just accident. If I don't use it, can I find anyway else? We continued. Not a dark tunnel but enough air for us to continue our way. We could see marimo on the old brick curved walls, or the floor, on every steps we moved. It was likely water used to be here, but the water was removed and being controlled to flow in large pipes underground. If there was any leakage, it could create such a flood. No trashes after all, but smells and flies were everywhere. I closed my eyes, and whispered: "I sincerely declared that everywhere I go is clean." Suddenly, all the bad smells disappeared, flies also died and fell to the ground. "Why all the smell disappeared? And did you say something?" "Uhm... Nothing. Maybe we are almost there." We continued and realized the further we went, the newer bricks on the wall became. At first they were dark orange, and then it became lighter and lighter. Arriving at the dead end, the bricks were all different color - light gray. "Maybe we are there. We should climb on." "Just give it a try." I climbed on a new ladder when carrying Lucy on my back, and no slippery position on the ladder. While we were climbing, she said: "Uhm... Can I tell you something?" "Yes. I'm ready to hear." Her mouth got closer to my ear, and whispered: "Actually, I can use magic." "Magic?", I said. "Why don't you tell me at first?" "I'm afraid you don't believe me." "Come on! Why do you think I don't believe and laugh at you? But you need to prove that by an opportunity." "Yes. I have been deciding if I should tell you or not.", she explained. "And I've chosen right people, you and your sister." "Thanks.", I thanked her. A vent entrance appeared. "There it is. The waiting room is very close to us. Can you?" "Yes.", she pulled out her wand, "Screw off!" The screws were all quickly removed and fell to the ground below. We put it aside and entered, but Lucy got inside first, then me. We crawled to the end of the vent, and saw a large room with full of haystacks, barrels and boxes. I jumped into the nearest one, after told her to stay calm. There are a giant, with some small ones - humans - there. "Hey little boy, are there any...", the giant whispered. My head got out of the haystack. "You think there are fake handcuffs here?", I said. "If you ask so... Over there. In the guards' area." He pointed at the door opposite. "My bag is over there. Can you?" "Uhm... What's your name?" "Jake. Jake Davidson. My name is written on the bag." "Huh?", a guard was about to turn himself behind. Jake pushed my head down to the stack. "Are there anything there?" "Nothing. Turn away." The guard turned aside and went away. My head got out of the stack again. "Have you had any plan yet?" "I'll get the key first, then disguise myself. You know, the only way, but the best one." "Sound good." I got out of the stack, approached and jumped into the barrel which was near the guard most. "It got a hole on the side. An advantage. Great." Leaned myself till fell to the ground and rolled to behind the guard. The guard before had returned and noticed the barrel. He opened the cell and reached inside. Upon hearing the footsteps, I prepared my suppressed pistol and aimed at the hole. The gun sounded. That guard was shot in the head, fell and died instantly. That was a clear and silent shot, and no one noticed this, except Jake the giant and Lucy inside the vent. I crawled out of the barrel and hide the corpse inside a haystack, as quick as possible. Hiding in the stack, I changed into the outfit of the guard, then pretended to guard the place. Another man ran to the cell. "Hey, are there anything?" "No. You are allowed to enter the room." "Not now. Be careful.", he moved away. Until he left the hallway completely, I slowly moved to the guard's room. I saw a bag, with a piece of paper written "Jake". I checked the bag, and he was right - bunches of fake handcuffs inside. I secretly returned to the cell, inserted and threw the bag to him. Chapter 7: The trading time - Afternoon One fifty. It was five kilometers left. Two zero. Two kilometers left. Two oh five. We arrived at the auction house. At that moment, we found it too early to come, but at least some had arrived before us. They are all nobles. On their heads are something like bubbles, that makes distance between their noses and common people' noses. "That is...", Lucy pointed at them. "Don't be like that. Nothing is good when we insult those when they haven't done anything with us yet." I put her arm away. "Anyway, we just keep patient all the time, and do as what they do inside that house." We silently walk past those whose head were bubble-protected, without any offensive sign. Those people looked at me suspiciously. Chapter 8: The final challenges The second challenge - How to play as rules In the second challenge, all of us had to dive underwater in order to defeat the two Krakens brothers. They were the enormous octopuses which live in the North Blue. After defeating the monsters, they will take some blood from them. The liquid would be necessary for the final challenge. In addition to that, every participant was equipped with a bubble-making equipment, in which the bubble will appear when squeezing it slightly and we weren't allowed to spawn over five bubbles. The second challenge - How we did it "Dinner has come!", the chef said. We were sitting in an enormous room, with bowls, plates and cups on the tables. People was very crowd and noisy around. Chefs brought food out with dozens of serving carts. We heard that the food was nutritious. There was no alcohol, I think. This means, no one is allowed to take the challenge with smell of alcohol. The dishes were placed on the table, one-by-one. The second challenge was really hard. We couldn't find any weaknesses of them, and they were such a hardcore "trashes". I was knocked by the tentacles three times, and that was three times I spawned bubbles. I then tried to unleash Haki times and times, but its senses were too excellent that it could predict our attempts to attack. "Damn it! I couldn't..." "Storm! Listen to me!" Ezio called me. "Listen. Can you distract the first one for us?" "I see. I just needn't hit it, okay? And you guy just attack it?" "That's right! But we must be careful, because one of us hits it, he or she will become their bait! Now, let's do this!" I swam to the seabed, picked up a rock then threw at him. Eventually, it began to chase me. "Attack it, quickly! ATTACK!!!", I shouted, while swimming around. Immediately, all of them threw rocks at it. It was stunned. "Now it's your chance!" I held my right hand, turned my arms into gold and launched toward the first Kraken's head. My arms burnt like a huge golden rocket which was flying toward and exploded immediately. The Kraken collapsed and lost its senses quickly. "GOOD JOB! IT IS DEFEATED!!!", all of us screamed happily. "Too early now, what 'bout the other one?" "We forgot it... But never mind. It is being incapacitated." The last one screamed extremely angrily. It was awaking. "Are you READY?", Bill shouted. "ONE..." I raised my arm toward the surface. The water around the fist became hotter and hotter, and a moment later, it turned into a giant sphere of boiling water. "TWO..." The other ones picked up the gigantic rocks and got ready to give a final blow. "THREE!!!" All of us blew the last enemy up together. The mass damage caused by us made it completely lose its senses. "Now we just get their blood." Everyone, took a syringe and a lidded tube, and sucked some blood from them. As you know, the octopuses were the cold-blooded animals, so the tube was cold when I handle it. We all swam up to the surface and landed on the beach. "There they are!", people on the shore shouted. We grabbed the rafts and let the fishermen pull us toward the shore. I wheezed slowly, when having myself covered with a towel. "Are you okay, brother?", asked my sister. I was still wheezing. Bill came to us, and asked me: "Could you give me the tube of blood?" "Yes. Here you are.", I gave him the tube. He then went away quickly. Probably he was submitting the result of our recent challenge. Lucy then gave me a cup of hot chocolate. "I still can't believe you are able to survive those challenges. I thought you'd have died during any challenges.", she said. "You will be taken to the hot bathtub to return yourself to the normal temperature." Immediately, the doctors took me to the hot bathtub nearby. The others was also like me - be taken to the hot bathtub. Contacting with the hot water, I moaned quietly as I was breathing out the steam. Feeling the water was really hot, I suddenly jumped out of the tub. The others also did. "Are you okay, comrades?" "Never been better.", we replied each other. We then all headed to the changing room. I put on a silver-colored assassin suit, included a silver hooded trenchcoat, a turquoise V-neck sweater, jeans and a pair of black runnin' shoes (of course I wore them without socks). "You are truly a young skillful assassin.", people said. The next day, we received a letter. We all passed and were able to take part in the final challenge. "Wait, there are some attachments!", Alex said, when we were going to ignore the letter. The preparation for the third challenge We received tubes of Kraken's blood taken from the last one. The letter also said that we should drink the blood. Like a magical game, though the life wasn't, and I'd got to try. The flavor wasn't too bad, but I felt unfamiliar in my tongue and throat, like I was drinking a kind of wine, but it was not made from ancol etylic, but from the acid in humans' stomaches. "I don't know how it will be after drinking this kind of liquid but maybe this will help us.", Ezio said. Alex vomited after a small drop of the liquid. "Too horrible after all... I thought I'd never eat or drink again...", she said. "No one forces you to do so. But if you want to survive, just drink it.", Bill said. "But first, I have to cover the tongue and the upper part of your throat first." He then put on a pair of rubber gloves, opened a doctor's bag. He took a Novocaine from the bag and cleaned it with a cotton ball. "Show me your arm. You need a Novocaine shot. It lasts for only an hour." "Here you are.", she replied, and undressed her shirt. He took out a small white bottle, labelled "Antiseptic", dropped some small drops onto another cotton ball, then picked it up using a tweezers and dragged it onto the skin on her arm, where was near the shoulder. The side quest Chapter 9: Walls and hills Chapter 10: The return of a Minister of Dark Justice Chapter 11: Fleeing Chapter 12: Aftermath Notes # half-blooded human: a man/woman whose parents are a fishman/merman and a human. Category:Stories Category:The Steppens Series __FORCETOC__